


Oh, I Think I Have Found Myself a Cheerleader

by LoyalBlood



Category: Blur, Britpop - Fandom
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-18
Updated: 2016-03-25
Packaged: 2018-05-27 12:51:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6285175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoyalBlood/pseuds/LoyalBlood
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They cheer.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"One two three four  
Spank your bottom til you're sore  
Five six seven eight  
Damon's a fucking jailbait"

The cheer squad broke into giggles, their captain included despite the song being about him and his tendencies to date older women. 

"Okay that's enough. We need to make a routine that will completely pulverize Oasis High's Ocelots," Damon said.

A small hand rose from behind. A young boy with glasses far too large for his face came into everyone's attention.

"I'm ready for the move..." he timidly suggested.

Damon's entire face lit up. Graham was the only member small and agile enough to be thrown around, but his fragility lay in self-esteem rather than physique. For a long time he'd been trying to convince Graham to allow him and Alex, the co-captain, to try out a move they choreographed especially for him, but Graham was always reluctant.

Alex nodded at Damon. The two crouched down and held out their arms, interlocked in a way that Graham could sit on. The small boy then walked up and took his position. He knew how this move went. He had spent countless hours considering and pondering upon the idea, even going as far as doing complex mathematical calculations. In theory, Graham was a professional at this, and he could only hope he was equally as good in practice.

"On the count of three. One, two..." 

Three. 

Graham was launched high up into the air, where he performed a perfect split and backflip then landed exactly in place; one foot on Damon's shoulder and the other on Alex's. Graham hopped off and the captains each grabbed an arm to prevent him from falling. Graham's legs dangled above the ground briefly, before he was hoisted back up and thrown into the air a second time.

Everyone was fixated on little Graham's flawless moves in mid air until the doors to the gym flew open. Heads turned away from the boy to face another. 

The boy swaggered in, his uniform looking foreign on his body. He sported yellow-tinted sunglasses and a bucket hat over his thick brown hair although he was inside and neither was it sunny outside. It took a while but the whole squad soon recognized him as the Ocelots' resident flyer.

"Liam," Damon hissed. He clenched his fists to show at Liam, completely losing his position. 

It all happened so quickly. Damon moved for half a second and Graham was rapidly falling down. Alex wasn't strong enough to catch him on his own, and Graham just kept falling and falling until

"Graham!" 

It was the last thing Graham heard and the floor was the last thing he remembered seeing.

-

"What the fuck have you done?" 

"It was all Liam's fucking fault, mate. I would never purposefully hurt Graham!"

"I did not say you did it on purpose but such careless accidents should not have happened. I allowed you to carry out this move because I trusted you, Albarn. You swore it was safe. I'm sorry but you are off for Nationals."

"But Coach!" 

"No buts, Albarn. You've let me down."

Graham sat up and was greeted by a piercing pain in his side. That wasn't very surprising. What was surprising was how red in the face Damon was: as if he was the one who fell.

"Oh, Coach Cocker please! We need Damon!" Graham pleaded.

Coach Cocker touched Graham's forehead with the back of his bony hand. 

"Are you sure you haven't bumped your head, Coxon? You are still defending him after what he's done?" the coach scoffed.

"What other choice do we got? Noel is bound to have heard the news by now. Us minus a flyer is exactly his dream come true. We can't give him that privilege!" 

Coach Cocker sighed. The loyalty Graham had towards his team and his captain was admirable, and he was right. Without Graham or Damon, the Seymour School was doomed to lose.


	2. Chapter 2

It's been two days since the incident. Graham was already sick of the stale white walls and the imprisoning shades of blue that took in the form of the bedsheet, the plastic that lined the bin, and the curtain separating him from another patient. 

He felt like he was strapped to the bed with no other form of entertainment than the tiny television that hung too high above him. It hurt to change the channel but at least pain was a feeling other than boredom. 

"Oasis High's darlings have done it again! The Ocelots will be competing in Nationals after their stunning performance at last Monday's big game. This is also the first time that Oasis High has been invited to participate for four years running. We speak to Ocelots captain Noel Gallagher for more information."

Graham slammed the power button and swore at the TV. How he hated that pretentious Noel. There was no denying that Noel was a cheerleading genius, but his attitude was nothing short of idiotic. 

"Somebody's not a huge fan of cheerleading eh?" 

Graham looked around. Who said that?

"I think cheerleading is cool y'know? Very important part of all sports games. And those flips and splits and all? Incredible."

There was nobody else in the room aside from himself and the other patient. Of course! It must be the other guy.

"My favorites are those kids who get thrown around. They're so brave! And they never fall!"

"You're wrong," Graham interrupted. 

"So he speaks. That's lovely. Tell me, cellmate, where am I wrong?" 

Graham laughed at the other patient's joke. He had an easygoing vibe about him, and he immediately felt a lot better about having to sit in hospital.

"That's why I'm here. I fell," Graham confessed.

There was a short silence. 

"Oh. I'm sorry," the other patient apologized. 

"How'd you end up here? I'm Graham by the way."

"Graham? No way! From the Seymour? I got injured at the last major game against Suede Academy. You were there." 

The cheerleader immediately recalled the iconic night. An unsuspecting skinny boy scored a legendary basket, risking everything to get the winning point. As a result he was here.

"Dave?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why are my chapters so short

Damon kicked a can, launching it into the nearby bin. He should've been on the football team or the basketball team instead of the cheer squad, but things just didn't turn out that way. He sat himself on a bench and thought back to the day he became a cheerleader. 

It was last year. Coach Cocker blew the whistle and called back all the candidates. Damon was always a huge fan of sports, particularly basketball. At his last school he was the captain, and he hoped to lead his new school team as well. He saw himself in the near future, bringing the team to victory and crushing the other schools. Especially Suede Academy. 

You could only imagine the shock Damon received when he was rejected from the team. He saw a skinny ginger-headed boy get accepted yet not him. This was impossible. 

As he was about to leave the gym, a long finger tapped in his shoulder.

"Ah," he heard from behind.

Damon roughly shook the finger off his shoulder and turned around angrily.

"Haven't changed your mind have you? Or would you like me to become the water boy? You sure need some water, mate. You always talking like you haven't got any breath left in that skeleton body."

Damon knew that was unnecessarily rude but he was upset. What else other than basketball could he invest his time into? 

"Ooh, quite a tongue on this one," Coach Cocker tutted. "Listen, Albarn. You're good but, you are a little grumpy, and I don't allow that on my team. You need to learn true teamwork and school spirit."

"School spirit? What am I? A cheerleader? Fuck off, old man," Damon scoffed.

Coach Cocker raised a thin finger and tapped Damon's nose.

"Oh yeah."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> These chapters are so bloody short I'm sorry

"Tell me, Graham, how's Damon on a daily basis?" Dave asked.

Ever since they discovered they knew each other, they requested for the curtain to be drawn back. It certainly was refreshing to see someone else in the room other than the fat nurse or the balding doctor.

"Oh um," Graham started. What was there to say about Damon? He's only been on the squad for one year but he's made such a huge impact. Not to mention he brought in his best friend Alex James, now co-captain and the beauty of the team. Not that Damon wasn't also beautiful.

"He's alright. At first he was a dick and he really wanted to get out of the team but apparently Coach Cocker saw something in him that we didn't. In the end he was right though. You saw us last year at the championships, yeah?"

Dave nodded.

"Can you believe Damon choreographed the whole thing? He really identified each of our strengths and weaknesses and planned accordingly. He realized we lacked in the strength department so he convinced his best friend Alex to join. Alex doesn't look very strong but he is! And the crowd adores him! Imagine if the crowd had to see only my silly face at every game. Thank goodness for Alex and Damon."

Dave shook his head. "Don't say that Graham, you're cute too. Especially when it comes to cheerleading. I haven't seen you this bright talking about anything else."

Graham flushed red. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I must be rambling. Oh God, I'm really sorry, Dave. I'm so selfish."

"Not at all! Tell me more actually. It doesn't seem fair that I see you guys at every game yet don't know a thing about you, don't you think?" Dave encouraged.

"I suppose. In return you have to tell me about you," Graham said. "Anyway I guess cheerleading is kind of my only passion, but I'm not as intense as Damon. It's funny because he was so against it in the beginning, but after seeing how shite we were he couldn't resist stepping in. After that point there was no going back for him. He didn't even wanna go back to basketball when Coach offered him a spot on the team. It worries me sometimes though. Damon's drive gets him in all sorts of trouble, especially when it comes to the Ocelots, who we were beaten by last year. I guess it sort of rubbed off on me that's why I turned off the telly when Noel was on."

"I hope he visits! He sounds like a riot," Dave laughed.

Graham laughed too but inside he began to wonder. Why hasn't Damon visited yet? His heart began to sink at the thought that Damon didn't really care.

-

A book was slammed on the table.

"ALBARN!" Mr. Morrissey shouted. "Are you paying attention, Albarn?"

Alex nudged Damon. "Hey, mate. If you don't pay attention Mr. Morrissey will feel underappreciated and cry again."

Damon turned away. 

"Damon if you miss Graham you should go see him. I know that's what's bothering you," Alex advised. 

"No. He hates me. I'm the reason why he's in hospital, Alex. What makes you think he wants to see me?" Damon snapped.

Mr. Morrissey has had enough. These boys clearly didn't care what he had to say and he began to weep.

"Look what you've done now," Alex hissed.

"Oh shut up Alex I feel bad enough as it is," Damon said. 

Alex shook his head and Damon got up and left. Damon can be so stubborn at times. Alex knew that Damon really wanted to go and visit Graham, but was afraid he wouldn't want to see him. 'Whatever,' he thought. 'I can go see Graham myself.'

-

"Graham you have a visitor. He says he's from your school," the fat nurse announced.

Dave looked more excited than Graham. After hearing tales of the cheer squad, Dave developed a new respect and admiration for them. He desperately wanted to meet another member. He secretly hoped it was Damon. Little did he know, Graham secretly hoped it was Damon too.

As soon as Graham agreed to receive the visitor, the boy was sent up to their room. He opened the door and was faced with a bored looking Graham under a blanket and Dave with a massive cast on his leg and arm.

"Graham? You look like shit," Alex joked.

"Cunt," Graham smiled back.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angry Damon

Damon skipped out on Mr. Morrissey's detention to sulk under the bleachers in peace. He was at peak sulking when his phone lit up. It was a message from Alex. 

"Guess who's sharing a room with Gra at the hospital" it read, accompanied by a selfie featuring a camera-shy Graham, a grinning Dave, and Alex with his signature duckface.

'Fucking diva,' Damon thought to himself. And what were the odds that Graham got stuck with Dave? Oh how Damon hated Dave. It was he who stole his spot on the team all that time ago. Of course, Damon didn't regret joining the cheer squad but the resent he felt towards Dave never wore off. 

The thought of Graham and Dave spending every minute of the day together made him boil. He imagined Dave telling some awful joke about him and Graham in hysterics. He imagined that Graham didn't miss him at all. 

"I'm gonna break your other limbs, Rowntree, just you see!" Damon yelled.

The echoes of the gym chorused his threat back at him. Damon listened intently. When did he become so aggressive? It's true that he's said worse things to others but he was surprised that this one came from the heart.

What's got him so worked up over the whole situation. Was it because he was benched for Nationals? No, it wasn't that. He didn't even remember he was benched until now. Maybe Alex was right; it was something to do with Graham.

Damon was a hundred percent certain that Graham hated him. They hadn't been the best of friends before, especially not when Damon first joined the squad. But over the past couple of months he's grown fond of the kid, and he dared say that Graham liked him too. 

-

"Hey um, Alex?" Graham started.

"Yeah?" 

"Not that I don't appreciate you coming here but, how come the others didn't come?" 

"By others you mean Damon?" Dave piped in.

Graham wanted to punch Dave but his broken arm prevented him from doing so. 

"Don't look so angry, Gra. We all know by others you mean Damon," Alex joined. 

Alex and Dave both laughed as Graham turned red. After a few minutes of absolute denial, Graham finally spoke up.

"Okay yeah I mean of course I wonder where Damon is but the others are my friends too you know." 

Alex threw a pillow at him. "See I fucking knew it!"

Dave laughed but as soon as Graham's confession sunk in, he didn't really feel like laughing anymore.


	6. Chapter 6

"Looks like you're good to go soon. The both of you! What are the odds," the doctor beamed.

Graham and Dave looked at each other. They could hardly believe it. They were finally leaving the damn place.

"I can't wait to see all my friends again," Graham grinned.

"Yeah, me too," Dave replied, but this statement wasn't entirely true. The basketball team never really respected Dave, and he didn't have much friends outside of the team. Things changed only a little after he scored the winning basket and broke pretty much the entire left side of his body. They visited him twice or thrice and then stopped. 

The past few days with Graham overruled all of that.

In a span of three days, Dave felt as if he's really found a friend in Graham. He wasn't the shy and quiet one of the squad everyone assumed him to be. Graham was actually a great listener, and an absolute chatterbox when it came to things he's passionate about. He loved seeing that in a person, and Graham would tell the silliest stories about his own clumsiness. 

The only thing he found that he didn't like, however, was when Graham would go on and on about how amazing Damon is, how Damon saved their cheer squad, how kind Damon is when you get to know him. Oh no, Dave completely disagreed internally. Damon was bad news. He reeked of hostility and frankly, Dave was worried for Graham. What if Damon would hurt him in the future? He knew that Damon was one to lash out when provoked. And he hasn't even visited once! 

Dave knew deep down that Graham would continue tagging along with Alex and Damon when they return to school, while he would just sit alone and do his own thing. For a moment he considered breaking his other leg and Graham's as well, just to keep them at the hospital for longer. He dreaded leaving for the hospital had ironically become his happy place. 

On the other hand, Graham was ecstatic about being discharged. And if Graham is happy, he supposed he could be happy too.


	7. Chapter 7

Graham still had a cast on but he felt better than ever. Immediately Alex signed on it, followed by the rest of the cheer squad who were already waiting by the school entrance to welcome him back.

"Thanks, everyone. It looks lovely now," he said. 

When he was alone he examined his now vandalized cast. There was of course, Alex's signature; bold and beautiful, much like Alex himself. Several profanities. A tiny, crudely drawn dick. A smiley face from Coach Cocker. An empty space for someone.

The cast reflected his life, Graham decided. Friends, best friend, coach, obscene teenage humor, and an emptiness he never noticed, just like the blank spot on his cast.

Damon hadn't been with the rest that morning, he realized. That's okay. Damon's locker was close to his. So Graham made his way to the west side of the building where identical orange lockers stood side by side, stretching as far as the eye can see.

And behold! There he was, the man himself; Damon Albarn with the bead necklace and popped collar. He had his face buried in his mess of a locker. The books were all stacked above each other, worksheets falling out, and bits and pieces of strange junk taking up the much needed space.

'Crazy Damon. How on earth is he able to navigate through that dystopian world of his?' Graham thought. Damon turned for a moment and noticed him standing not so far away. At the sight of Graham, Damon rapidly grabbed the books he needed, slammed the door and hurried away.

Graham watched him jog away then looked down at the clear spot on his cast. He sighed deeply and walked in the opposite direction. Hopefully a direction that could lead him to some peace of mind.

So Graham walked and walked. Class wouldn't start for another twenty minutes, allowing him plenty of time to waste.

In the distance he saw a boy leaning against the railings of the stairs. His bright orange hair was unmistakable, and the casts he donned gave him away.

"Hey, Dave!" Graham shouted. He's never shouted before. Not outside of cheerleading anyway.

Dave turned around with the biggest smile on his face. Graham did remember him after all.

"Graham, you look well! Woah look at that, is that your cast or the American Declaration of Independence?" Dave mocked. He looked at his own casts sadly. Both were clear as day.

Seeing Dave still miserable out of hospital was intolerable. He should be celebrating, not walking around alone. 'Where is the basketball team?' Graham wondered. 

The prided sports team was nowhere in sight, so Graham pulled out a marker and took a hold of Dave's arm cast. He wrote "get well soon" followed by a heart. He mentally cursed himself for writing such a general message because Dave deserved way better.

"Then can I sign yours?" Dave asked.

Graham stared at the vacant spot he originally saved for someone else, and without hesitation, handed the marker to Dave. 

Damon just wasn't worth the wait anymore.


End file.
